The portals to immortality-Greek Grave Steles To us who live in modern times the ‘melancholic look’ that we find in the sculpture of cemeteries throughout the world is something we take for granted. Although its authenticity has been lost to us, this so-called look can be traced back to 5th century Greek funerary sculpture. For us it is only natural to associate such a look with death. However, as the above verse elaborates, the Greeks viewed death somewhat differently from the way we do. To them death freed their souls and brought true happiness: then why does their grave sculpture look so pensive and thoughtful?
It is because unlike today where the dead are only represented figuratively in a sobbing angel or mournful cherub, the Greeks depicted their dead as they were in life – life which was full of uncertainties and burdens but also with simple pleasures that made it all worth while. The Greeks successfully combined these two juxtaposed experiences, and harmonized its contradictions to portray in steles the individual, whose simplicities and complications was a reflection of the bitter-sweetness of life.
No where is this combination more successful than in the Greek grave stele of the 5th century before Christ. The 5th B. C. encompassed two distinct periods: the early classical and the high classical. However both these periods shared the uniquely contradicting, constantly explorative, and modestly idealistic vision of life, which made the subjects of the stele, at their moment of death, all the more human to the observer.
Neither the previous Archaic period, nor the following 4th century, or the preceding civilizations quite so convincingly capture for the observer the poignancy of death the way a fifth century BC stele could. The period of the 5th century B. C. is sometimes referrd to as the golden age, which is the height for Greek art and civilizations; and ironically has its beginning and ending in war! “The 480 B. C. marked the defeat of the Persians and 404 B. C. the beginning of the pelopannasian war and the collapse of Athenian democracy.
Perhaps the culturally significant buildings and sculptures that were destroyed and the many lives that were lost during the long war with Persia might made grave monuments and stele all the more personal to the Greeks during this time. For whatever reason Greek stele of this particular period, between two historically significant moments (480-404), stand-alone in more ways than one. “Between the boundaries of 480 and 404 the human figure ran through a wide gamut of psychological nuances. ” Of these many ‘nuances’ there are two significant styles that are observed in art history.
First there is “the self-confidence brought about by a deep-seated certainty of the outcome of the struggle with the environment in the course of the ‘severe style’ which is a characteristic of the early classical period. And then there is the resignation bought about by dashed hopes the fickleness of illusions and escapism in the ever fragile creatures of the ‘rich style’ ”, which can be identified in the high classical period. The stylistic differences mentioned above tend to break this so-called golden era of the 5th century B. C. into two periods.
However, ironically the one factor that combine these periods together is death- or at least monuments erected for death –the stele. “If there is any hint in Greek sculpture of a sunset melancholy that were brought upon by the war years it remains to be seen not in the civic monuments but in the beautiful series of grave stele that were produced during the 5th century BC. ” The common thread that runs through the two periods of the fifth century are “the touch of unpretentious and sublime otherworldliness ” combined with a sense of austere melancholy.
During the Archaic period although vases were the popular method for marking graves, steles with human figure relief begin to appear during this period. These steles later predominate during the classical period. The Archaic grave steles usually “consisted of a rectangular slab surmounted first by capitals and then back to back volute scrolls with a sphinx atop. ” An example of an archaic stele is the stele of a warrior runner made in Athens around 500-450 B. C. The runner according to Lawrence is “Hoplitodrome the winner of a race in armor.
The young man wears a warrior helmet and looks down at his feet, which are twisted in an impossible running position. He has stylized hair and his cap looks too big for him. He has an Archaic smile although it is not quite evident in the photograph. The warrior looks in the opposite of where his legs seem to heading. Since this position represents a running as well as flying position, it could be possible that he is flying towards Hades and is taking a last look at the earth he knew.
There is a desire on the artists’ part to produce a reaction through this sculpture. However, conventions such as the Archaic smile and the lack of knowledge in certain technical aspects keeps the sculpture from being successful realistically, and therefore less impressive emotionally and physiologically to the viewer. Also keep in mind that unlike the photograph the stele in its restored state would be taller than the relief itself, and the sphinx at the very top (a sculpture in the round) would have taken the focal point away from the warrior.
The bright colors used during this time to paint the surface would have given the stele a glaring effect. It is appropriate that this stele made almost at the end of this period should be a warrior. For the coming years would produce a war and victory for the Greeks that not only wipes the predictable smiles out of their sculpture but also would bring new discoveries to sculptural techniques that would bring even the dead alive.
The classical period (480-404) removes us from the world of Archaic rigidity and patter into one in which art takes on the task of representing even counterfeiting life, and not merely creating tokens of life and as a result involves the viewer more intimately . ” Also, there is neither a high pediment nor sphinx that would take the emphasis away from the figure. One of the earliest 5th century examples is the grave stele by Alexnor of Naxos dated around 490-480 B. C.